


The Necessity of Questions

by raventree



Category: White Collar
Genre: Allergies, Gen, Hospitalisation, Hurt/Comfort
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-01-13
Updated: 2012-04-30
Packaged: 2017-10-29 11:18:42
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 4
Words: 783
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/319310
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/raventree/pseuds/raventree
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Peter blames himself.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Hell is Hospital Chairs

**Author's Note:**

> Based on azertynin's prompt at http://whitecollarhc.livejournal.com/22166.html#comments
> 
>  
> 
> Neal is allergic to something and has anaphylactic shock.
> 
> For example : Peter and El adopt a kitten without knowing Neal is allergic.
> 
>  
> 
> White Collar and all associated characters belong to Jeff Eastin and the USA Network.

 

Hell is Hospital Chairs

 

Hughes paused in the doorway and watched his senior agent sleep. In the two days since Caffrey had been admitted, Reece doubted Burke had left the hospital once. Reece could understand. God knew, the kid had scared the hell out of the entire unit and that was before he’d stopped breathing. He turned to examine the young man lying sedated in the bed. He looked smaller somehow, with a tube down his throat, delivering oxygen until the swelling reduced enough to let Caffrey breath on his own. The doctors had said it was a severe allergic reaction, one of the worst they’d ever seen. A reaction to what, they didn’t know yet. Reece knew Peter blamed himself. What was it Peter had said? _Told him I knew everything from his shoe size up, but I never even asked him if he was allergic to anything._ Reece snorted softly, adjusting the blanket covering Caffrey. Peter would certainly have a few questions when the kid woke up and he wouldn’t be the only one. He moved around the bed to the room’s other chair. It would be hell on his back, but if his people needed him, he would be here.

~~~~  
~~~~


	2. The Six Little Seeds That Make Life Hell

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Neal wakes up.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

>  ~~~~  
> Disclaimer in first chapter.  
>  ~~~~

 

The Six Little Seeds That Make Life Hell

 

The first thing Neal knew was that his whole body ached. As his awareness grew some aches became more specific. His jaw felt stiff, his chest constricted, but with a sharpness that spoke of cracked, maybe broken ribs. His throat felt like someone had tried to cut their way out with a bread knife. Neal coughed, trying to clear the feeling. A hand gripped his shoulder and he opened his eyes, squinting as he discovered his eyeballs ached. A man leaned over him.  
“Pe’er?” Neal coughed again.  
“Sorry, Elizabeth convinced him to go down to the cafeteria. How are you feeling?” Neal blinked, focusing on the face above him.  
“Hughes... hur’s.” Reece snorted softly, reaching for the water left next to the bed.  
“Doc said you had an allergic reaction.” He helped Neal sit up enough to sip the water. The younger man settled back down, eyes already closing.  
“Allerg’c...” The word was slurred, Neal almost asleep. “Mmm... pome’grints.”

 

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ~~~~  
> I have no idea what's in a Pomegranate to make Neal allergic, but I thought it was a rare enough ingredient for it not to have come up before.  
>  ~~~~


	3. The Devil in the Details

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Two can keep a secret if one of them is dead.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> See first chapter for disclaimers.

 

The Devil in the Details

 

Hughes paused outside Caffrey's hospital to finish his coffee. The doctor had banned acidic and spicy foods for the next few days, as a precaution. It would have been mean-spirited to drink it in front of him. As he drank, Hughes heard Burke talking to Caffrey.

 "How did you find out? About the pomegranates, I mean?"

 "I was nineteen, I had a fake id, It was my first Mardi Gras, I wanted a night on the town. So I went to this underground bar. There specialty was a drink called a Mardi Gras Bang, they break open a pomegranate and half fill a glass with the seeds. Add two shots of vodka and a shot of lemon juice. Tasted great, until my tongue went numb and I couldn't breath. The hospital kept me in for three days, ran a bunch of allergy tests. Turned out I should stay away from pomegranates." 

 "Why didn't you tell anyone? Not even Mozzie knew."

 "You think Wilkes would have tried to shoot me if he known? It would have been a lot easier just to poison me. No way to trace it, no way to prove he even knew. Not even Kate knew."

 "Yeah, well, now I know, and it's going in your file."

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I made up the mardi Gras Bang and, I admit, have no idea what it tastes like. If someone finds out, let mo know.


	4. The Demon Drink

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The beginning

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Disclaimers in the first chapter.  
> Thanks to everyone who commented or gave me kudos.

 

 

At first, it hadn’t meant much. Caffrey, stepping away from the drinks table, frowning into his glass. Maybe the punch wasn’t up to expectations, maybe it had gone warm. Maybe, _someone had spiked it with something particularly horrible_ , because what else would explain the glass slipping from Caffrey’s usually steady hands as he staggered sideways, dropping to one knee and taking great gulps of air like it was going out of fashion.

 Reese would never remember crossing the distance between them, but somehow he reached Caffrey first, kneeling down and putting his hand on the younger man’s back. He looked impossibly young, eyes wide with panic, mask of sophistication drained by the effort to just breathe, shoulders shaking with the strain. And it was a strain. Reese could feel it through the suit jacket, the wheezing breaths shallow despite the struggle. Reese knew he was talking, hoped it was something comforting, but all he could hear was Caffrey gasping for air. Then Burke was there, loosening Caffrey’s tie and giving orders. The pale, worried faces of the agents surrounding them are interspersed with the pale, scared faces of the probies. Caffrey stops breathing. Reese's heart almost stops too.

 

 


End file.
